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E-mail Xinhua, February 21, 2025
SYDNEY, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in the Australian state of Queensland have reported a fifth death from melioidosis linked to heavy rainfall.
An elderly person from the city of Townsville, over 1,000 km northwest of Brisbane, has become the fifth person in the state's tropical northern region to die of melioidosis in the current wet season, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) quoted Queensland Health as saying on Friday.
Melioidosis is a rare tropical disease associated with the wet season that is spread through contact with contaminated water, soil and air.
Townsville and its surrounding regions were hit by catastrophic damaging flooding earlier in February.
Queensland Health on Feb. 12 said that there had been two deaths from melioidosis in the state's far north since the start of the wet season in November.
On Wednesday it confirmed two more deaths, both in the city of Cairns north of Townsville, and reported that there had been 41 cases of melioidosis since Jan. 1.
Steven Donohue, director of the Townsville Public Health Unit, said on Friday that more than 20 cases have been recorded in the local area in February.
He told the ABC that people cleaning up from the floods should wear boots, long pants and long sleeves and wear a mask when using hoses. Enditem
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